Grand museum displaying Egypt's ancient treasures opens for trial run

CAIRO — 

The Grand Egyptian Museum volition unfastened 12 halls with exhibits astir past Egypt successful its main galleries starting this week successful a proceedings tally up of the still-unannounced authoritative opening, officials said Tuesday.

The museum, a mega-project adjacent the famed Giza Pyramids which has outgo good implicit $1 cardinal truthful far, volition unfastened the halls for 4,000 visitors per time starting Wednesday, said Al-Tayeb Abbas, adjunct to the curate of antiquities.

The depository has been nether operation for much than a decade, and an wide opening day has not yet been set, having been repeatedly delayed for assorted reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Some sections person been unfastened since 2022 for constricted tours.

More than 100,000 artifacts of Egypt’s past treasures volition beryllium displayed successful the world’s largest archaeological museum, according to the Egyptian authorities accusation website.

Abbas told the AP that the proceedings tally starting Wednesday would assistance hole for the afloat opening by identifying operational issues, including which parts of the depository mightiness go overcrowded.

The displays crossed the 12 halls pat into issues related to society, religion, and doctrine successful past Egypt, helium added. The open-style halls person been classified by dynasty and humanities bid and volition showcase thousands of artifacts.

Eras that volition beryllium exhibited successful the main galleries see the Third Intermediate Period (about 1070-664 B.C.), Late Period (664-332 B.C.), Graeco-Roman Period (332 B.C.-395 A.D.), New Kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.), Middle Kingdom (2030-1650 B.C.), and Old Kingdom (2649-2130 B.C.). One of the halls displays statues of “Elite of the King,” members of the royal household and high-ranking officials who worked successful the army, priesthood, and the government.

Limited tours person been allowed successful parts of the tract since precocious 2022 to trial visitors’ acquisition and the museum’s operational preparedness.

Aude Porcedde, a Canadian tourer who visited respective sections, told the AP she was amazed by the museum, adding that Egyptian civilization is important for her and for the satellite to cognize much about.

“There is simply a batch of past and a batch of things we are not alert of, particularly coming from the different broadside of the world, and seeing everything present and learning from the locals has been great,” said Costa Rican tourer Jorge Licano.

The expansive staircase, six stories precocious and with a presumption of the pyramids, and the commercialized country are unfastened to the public, showcasing monuments and artifacts that see sarcophagi and statues. Other parts of the museum, including the King Tutankhamun treasure collection, are acceptable to unfastened astatine aboriginal dates.

All halls are equipped with precocious exertion and diagnostic multimedia presentations to explicate the lives of the past Egyptians, including the kings, according to Eissa Zidan, director-general of preliminary restoration and antiquities transportation astatine the museum.

One of the halls volition usage virtual world to explicate the past of burial and its improvement passim past Egypt.

“The depository is not lone a spot to show antiquities, but it besides aims to pull children to larn astir past Egyptian past ... The depository is simply a acquisition to each the world,” Zidan told the AP.